Wow, this is horrible news. My sympathies to Paty, Dave's son, and all his close friends. I never knew Dave personally, but I had a wonderful time creating davecockrum.net and revisiting all his terrific artwork and other creations. Dave was truly a man who affected others simply by force of his tremendous personality. Dave was a legendary figure when he was alive - just look at the regard that Legion fandom of a certain age has always had for him - and his legend will only continue and grow.

Cliff, thank goodness that you were able to negotiate the settlement with Marvel for him, so that he could get out of that awful VA hospital and get back to South Carolina. And I'm very glad that Paty will still be covered under the settlement as well.

My deepest sympathies to everybody. I am not looking forward to the chore of updating the website with this terrible news.

Forgive me for not replying to personal emails right now; I have many calls to make and am dealing with the press. Frankly, I find that having something to do--some measure of responsibility that unburdons Paty--is theraputic. I'll post a more in-depth statement soon at CliffordMeth.com and SilverBulletComicBooks.com ... Know that Paty is receiving your messages and your love. --Clifford Meth

My thoughts are with Mr. Cockrum's family, especially Paty Cockrum, who I hope will continue to grace Nightscrawlers with her presence. This is a sad day for comics, so influenced by Mr. Cockrum's legacy, and for us, his fans. Nightscrawlers has lost a member of its family.

Deepest condolences to Paty and Dave's family. As Northstar said, we lost a member of the Nightscrawlers family, a huge member, and he will be greatly missed.

"If you live your life to please everyone else, you will continue to feel frustrated and powerless. This is because what others want may not be good for you. You are not being mean when you say NO to unreasonable demands or when you express your ideas, feelings, and opinions, even if they differ from those of others.â€

I am so sorry to hear about this. Dave Cockrum was such a brilliant artist and an incredibly nice guy. I count myself fortunate to have met him on a few occasions and obtained some nice artwork by him. He was one of my all-time favorite comic book creators.

My very first column at SBC dealt with Dave Cockrum. I was pissed off at the time because Dave lay in a hospital bed at a neglected Bronx V.A. facility and didnâ€™t have two nickels to rub together. Despite the fact that heâ€™d created a good portion of the X-Men characters that everyone knows and loves. It was one of those huge injustices that was too big and too close to ignore. I was getting ready for a fight. Perhaps guys like me are always getting ready for a fight.

Guys like Dave Cockrum are just the opposite. If it hadnâ€™t been for the burden of his illness, he would never have even mentioned his missing royalties to anyone. For companies that take advantage of that sort of guy, thatâ€™s a ready-made sucker, a patsy. But for Dave Cockrum, it was about getting on with life. He was happy to have created what he created, to have found a career drawing comics. He never verbalized any regret about his chosen field. At least not to me, and I was his pal. Dave never considered the road not taken. â€œWhat else could I have done?â€

I just heard the bad news and had to come back here to pay my respects to Mr Cockrum and to offer Paty my deepest condolences.. from the few times I actually spoke to him on this site, I could tell that he was genuinely a nice and caring individual and he'll be greatly missed.

My deepest sympathies to Paty and all of Dave's family and friends. As has already been said, we at Nightscrawlers have lost a dear member of the family today. If not for Dave, this site wouldn't exist.

I'm truly grateful I had the chance to know him, and meet him in person.

I know I've been away from the forum for a while, but as soon as I heard, I came back, so I could offer my condolances to Paty and everyone else who knew him. He was a great artist and a great person, he will be missed deeply.

I have just heard the news, my deepest sympathies to Paty and his family.

'To be a good designer, you have to be a very violent psychopath.' Stan Lee.
"If you've got Mystique as your girlfriend the fun you could have in bed - I've just imagined X-Men 3 might open with me in bed with Patrick Stewart." -- Sir Ian McKellen